Disowning Her Father, Made Easy
Anastasia Jill
Her father spent years asking
her, “Read the book I wrote.
It will tell you everything
you need to know.”
Words tinted like a window
didn’t wait for her to touch a page
before they jumped,
with sharpened claws
and indoctrinated her back.
A gospel rests its feet
against her lordosis
simulating the world weight
her father felt on his own
shoulders every day.
When he turns away,
she sheers her back
and burns the book,
flames fat and heavy
against the mind refusing
to learn anymore.
ANASTASIA JILL is a queer poet and fiction writer living in the southern United States. She is a current editor for the Smaeralit Anthology. Her work has been published or is upcoming with Poets.org, Lunch Ticket, FIVE:2:ONE, Ambit Magazine, apt, Into the Void Magazine, 2River, Requited Journal, and more.